Independence Day
by BRUCAS123
Summary: Logan is in CT for wedding parties and finds out Rory is giving birth to a baby he didn't know about. One shot.


I've never written for Gilmore Girls or Logan/Rory before but this was floating around since the revival and I wanted to get it out hope this fandom likes it!

* * *

 _"...People can live a hundred years without really living for a minute. You climb up here with me, it's one less minute you haven't lived."_

Where did that guy go, was all I could think as I walked into yet another stuffy, mandated pre-wedding event. This one, in Connecticut, with my high school and college friends was the one I had wanted to get out of the most. It's easy to do what's expected of me when no one who really knows me is around. My true friends know, of course, that I don't love this girl that I'm marrying. But, damnit, if I don't feel like a fraud anyway. Here. Doing this with the wrong girl. And Connecticut makes me think of the right girl. She's so close. I could go visit her after this. But I won't.

She wouldn't want me to.

At least when we were together, we lived, truly lived, every moment. What I'm doing right now? This isn't living.

"Logan, did you look at the financials before you left yesterday? The board meeting next week is imperative if you're really taking over after this wedding," my dad is going on about obligations I don't even want. I never did.

"Dad-" I start.

"Mitchum," my mom interrupts, "let's let our son and his fiancé enjoy this party. The wedding is next month and I'm positive Logan knows what he needs to do before then."

Good ole Shira doesn't like to discuss why the woman standing next to me is my fiancé. But it's especially bad manners for her to hear the details of me taking over her father's business at the end of this summer. I didn't even ask her. Not really. Our fathers made a deal and we are doing what we're supposed to. Odette understands. She has no clue that I can love anyone the way I know she wishes I'd love her. She's been conditioned to think men just don't have that capacity.

"Shira," my fiancé takes her by the arm, "why don't you introduce me around while the guys talk business?"

She sends me a smile that tells me she's trying to help. Nothing about the look my mom gives her is helping me. It makes me more resentful. Why can't they love the woman I love like this? Maybe Rory wouldn't be so gun-shy if they would just accept her.

Before they are able to leave me alone with my dad, Honor comes up to us in a flurry. She was just over talking to a few people we both know from Yale. She's smiling at me but it's a weird smile. Something is wrong and the fact that Honor thinks so means it's a big deal.

She hugs everyone, even Odette, with her usual warmth and then asks a question that feels wrong. "Is Emily Gilmore invited today?"

My mom, ever the society hostess, gives an uncomfortable grimace. "Of course she was invited, dear. She declined, of course. She lives in Nantucket now, in a tiny little cottage. Charming, I'm sure. She even has a little job. There've been rumors that Richard left her without much money to work with."

Most of that isn't true and I know that for a fact. But I can't dispute it without letting everyone in the room know that Rory recounted to me in minute detail, the reading of the will. Odette has already stiffened up next to me at just the Gilmore name. The only other time she's heard it is when my dad was letting us know that it was time for her to live in the same country as me.

Honor rolls her eyes. She knows the Gilmore's fortune is older than ours and almost as sizable. "Well, I was just talking to Juliet. She used Paris Geller last year, for the triplets, and they became friends. She wondered if Emily would be here since she's already in town," my sister looks me right in the eye and I know the next words are not meant to hurt me, even though they have the power to kill me, "with Rory. At the hospital."

"Hospital?" I feel like I can't breathe. What's wrong with Rory? I need to go. I need to leave right now. I turn around and my dad's hand on my shoulder stops me.

"Stop," he whispers. "Stay for an hour and then you and a few friends can skip out. You can see her in less than two hours. You have to stay for a little while, Logan, for your mother. She worked hard on this."

Nothing he says is breaking through my brain. None of this matters if she's not okay. Happy. I can exist if she does. That's all.

Honor breaks through, though, in an unusually soft voice, "Logan, she's fine. Juliet said she just had a baby boy yesterday."

It's said gently, to lessen the blow, I think. And instead, for a moment, it's crushing. But I try to misunderstand her words because she cannot be right. If Rory were pregnant, I'd know. "Paris had another baby? I thought she and Doyle were divorced?"

Juliet has stepped over, probably because of the panic on my sister's face. "No, actually Paris and Doyle are divorced. Even if they can't quit each other. But Rory had a baby yesterday. I sat with Paris's twins until the nanny came back from her day off. She went a few days early which Paris says is totally the opposite of a normal first time mom but our Rory isn't really what anyone would call average now, is she? Little overachiever. Anyway, she's doing it alone, you know?" She's rambling and hurting my brain but I'm just letting her talk because I'm still trying to do the math. "No dad in the picture. Just like her mom, I guess. I mean, at least Rory is older and has an established career. I think Paris probably knows who the dad is but she said she knows me and my mouth and it's probably not good to tell me. Since Paris says Rory won't even confirm it for her. She hasn't told anyone who his dad is. He's gorgeous, though. He has her eyes. It looks like he may be blonde, though. Anyway, I know Emily was coming in today and thought she'd at least drop a gift here. You know, since Logan was so close to the family and-"

"Juliet!" My mom finally cuts her off. "Please stop talking about Rory and her illegitimate child. It's making my future daughter in law uncomfortable. Were you raised by wolves? Have some decorum!"

Honors eyes haven't left me. She's worried I'm going to go off the deep end at the thought of Rory carrying someone else's child. That isn't why everything is tinged with a red haze right now. Odette, as stiff as her spine is right now, is also looking to me for my reaction. Anyone who knew I was still seeing Rory regularly, meaning Odette and my dad, doesn't know of anything past two springs ago.

I find Finn, Robert and Colin and do something that I know is going to cause more problems than it solves. I make a motion for them to join our little group and then ask them to count back forty weeks from yesterday. They ask why and I tell them it's about the meeting. So they count back, everyone watching them. They're counting events, things they've done, over the last nine months.

"20 weeks ago was right before the ides of March jaunt in Rio. I was an excellent Shakespeare and I can say that about myself, Colin."

"30 weeks ago was the New Year in Tokyo. That dragon breathed fire, until I bought him, I swear it."

"That would make 40 weeks ago, Mr. Toad's wild ride. Right here, in New England."

That's Robert. "Robert, who took this ride with you," I ask him.

"Finn, Colin, you, and-" he cuts himself off, realizing what he almost just admitted.

I finish for him, "Rory." I look at my mom, who is shocked and my dad, who I'm sure would be livid, if he had emotions left, and I continue talking to my friends. "Rory took that ride with us. Stayed the night with us in the little B and B in New Hampshire. Spent the night with me. Forty weeks ago. And she just had a baby, boys. He has blonde hair and he's less than an hour away and I'm going to go see him. Now."

Without waiting for anyone to react, I turn around and walk out as quickly as my feet will allow without bringing attention to myself.

* * *

I've called every hospital between Hartford and Stars Hollow. They've all told me they don't release room numbers of obstetrics patients. So then I got smart and started asking if Paris has privileges. That narrows it down to the one I knew she was in anyway. Then I turn off my phone because it has been going nonstop since I left. Honor, I texted back, asking her to keep Juliet quiet and telling her I'd send a picture. My parents and Odette, I've completely ignored. The guys, I've told to stand back for now. When I get to the wing I need to be in, money gets me past the front desk and Rory's room number. And now I'm standing five feet away from the closed door. I know the love of my life is behind that door and if that baby is mine, and he has to be, I don't know if I'll ever forgive her. Who rubbed her feet when they were swollen? Who was with her the first time she saw him via sonogram? Who went out in the middle of the night for pickles and strawberries for her? Who did what I should've been given the option to do? That red haze is covering literally everything right now. I don't know if I'm angry or sad or so damn happy that I don't have to marry someone I don't even really like anymore. Or all of the above.

Christopher comes out before I can wrap my head around this enough to move forward. He doesn't seem surprised to see me.

"Who finally told you?" He asks, "Do you think it's smart to be here, Logan?"

I answer his questions with one of my own, the only one that matters right now. "Did you know he's mine?"

That does surprise Chris. He tries to cover it but his eyes widen just enough that I know he didn't expect that. Then, he smiles in a way that is just this much short of friendly, "she'd have told us that. She doesn't know who the father is."

"Well, I do. I know exactly where I was forty weeks ago and that was with your daughter, in a bed and breakfast that Colin bought in New Hampshire, breaking both of hearts one more time. He's my child, Chris. You going to try to keep me from seeing him?"

He shakes his head quietly, then asks if he can at least give her a heads up before I walk in there. I just nod because there are no words. She'd rather people think she was so irresponsible that she didn't know this child's father than let them think he was created inside of our love. I should be used to it- her breaking my heart. But every single time she takes a sledgehammer to it, I'm shocked at the pain. I think this is the moment that I'm done with her. Ironically, I can't be done with her because we're now connected for the rest of our lives.

With that thought hitting me hard, I look up as Emily and Lorelai step out with Christopher. They seem tense but they won't be able to stop me from walking in there. Rory's mom talks first, "you can go in, Logan," she says quietly, dropping a hand on my shoulder. "Please know, she was just trying to do the right thing here. She was thinking about you. She was protecting you. And your family. She was in labor for almost an entire day and she is exhausted. Don't say anything you will regret later."

I just look forward toward the cracked door. She makes me weak and right now, I have to be strong. She can't take my child from me without my permission.

* * *

"Hey." She looks exhausted and gorgeous and so damn sad that my mad fades a little bit. Her eyes are big and filled to the brim and in her arms is a little bundle that I know we made together. My heart knows it's home before I've even looked at his face.

"Hey." It's all I can say back. Because I still don't have any words. Newspaper empire and all; no words.

"I've been wishing he'd stay out an extra week, just so you wouldn't be stateside when he came. I don't know if it was selfish or if I was scared, but I knew you'd hear if I was in the hospital and you were in this state. I didn't want you to know. I didn't want you to ever know. I know what you have to do and I just..." she breaks off and looks down. "I should've said yes. It's all messed up now. Or maybe I should've never started seeing you again. Maybe that's where we went wrong. Vegas never truly stays there."

I start to walk closer to the bed and she holds up a hand. "Please. Don't. Logan." Her voice cracks and my heart breaks. "I cannot have a memory of you even touching him. I'm sorry if that's selfish. I'm sorry if it hurts you. But I need you and him to be separate. I have enough to wallow in."

"Rory," I find my voice finally, "you're going to need to get over yourself right now. You don't want me to touch my son? Or look at him? Or what? Know he exists?" I'm hysterical and I know it. But I can't stop, I'm in so much pain. "You wanted Vegas. I wanted you. Only you. Always. I took what I could get. I was in my head this morning, trying to figure out if you'd let me in if I came to see you tonight. If you'd let me visit you. Because I just needed to see you. I needed you to be happy, I wanted to be sure you were happy. That's what I given up for, right? Your happiness. And, then, I hear this! The math is so simple. Yes, of course, I would find out. I'm a month away from my wedding, for God's sake! You almost let me get married. What's wrong with you? Why are we like this? What, God, what did I do to deserve this?"

She's silent, tears streaming down her face and I can't comfort her. It makes me even angrier. I turn away. "If you don't let me see him, hold him, I will get a lawyer. The best lawyer. And you will regret ever having met me." I say it in the coldest, most calculating voice I can. The steel I thread through my voice, no one ever messes with.

She nods and lifts him away from her chest. I walk forward to take him from her arms. Once he's there, in my embrace I look down at my carbon copy. She would never have been able to keep this secret. She must've known it the moment she looked at him. I look back up at her, awed, and thank her. As quickly as it came, the steel is gone. I sit down, checking his fingers and his toes. And then I ask his name.

"Richard," she tells me.

I ask, "and his last name?"

Her eyes are apologetic as she says, "Gilmore."

"We can change that, right? I'm sure we can." I'll call a judge. I'm sure I can get it changed.

"Logan," she starts, calmer and subdued, "you're really going to make me share my baby with some woman I don't know anything about but that she enjoys shopping and clubbing? How's he going to come to London to visit you? My breastmilk probably won't withstand a transatlantic plane ride with a two month old. You can't do this right now. And I understand that. I didn't want this moment to haunt me which was why I chose not to say anything. But now I see him in your arms and I'll have that. And I know you'll love him, I know that. But I don't want to share him. She gets you. Can't you see that I just can't give her him too? I can't."

"Obviously, I'm not getting married, Ace," the endearment spills out. "Not to someone I didn't choose. I can do my job from Hartford. I will do it from Hartford and if my dad has a problem with that, he can work forever and I'll work for someone else. I only went back because he asked and you didn't want me. I needed a distraction. I won't be distracted from this, Ace. There isn't anything you can do to keep me away."

She is in complete disbelief, struggling with decisions I'd have made for her years ago, if she would have just asked me to. I'm staying. I'll fight my way back in if I have to. She will not keep me out of this any longer.

"Okay," she says, accepting it much more quickly than I thought she would. "Okay."

"Sleep," I tell her. "We'll talk it all out later."

She nods and closes her eyes. I look down at my son, my son, and feel every emotion under the sun hit me at once. I focus on the love and leave the anger and disappointment, warring in the back of my mind, to sort out later. When I'm alone. I snap a picture and send it to Honor. I memorize his face, his hands, his smell.

I know, I don't want to do this life without him. Or his mother. And I will eventually get her to see it my way.

I will.

 _"I don't know a lot. But I know that I love you. And I want to be with you. Forever."_


End file.
